


God Will Smile

by GabrielsCake



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Fix It, M/M, Moral Philosophy, divine intervention, dying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-05 20:36:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17331914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GabrielsCake/pseuds/GabrielsCake
Summary: the Lord saith unto man:bitch(fate tries to pull AshEiji apart, but these two boys cling to each other like one is e coli and the other is room temperature canadian beef.)





	God Will Smile

Though Ash himself does not know this, his Angel has been watching over him for longer than his entire life. The Angel held the poor crying boy in his arms during the night, nights he would forget about come morning. He helped Ash find the courage to exact revenge on those who've given him hell. He worked as hard as he possibly could with the other Angels to give him a happy ending. And when he bled out in a library in 1985, Ash's Angel knew this end was coming, but was nonetheless appalled. He pleaded with as many Authorities he could, all the Archangels, even God himself, to give him some mercy. A chance to try again. God had frowned, but nonetheless gave Aslan Jade Callenreese a do-over: he and those involved with his life and death would be reborn, and his Guardian Angel would have another chance to save him.  
Ash does not believe in Angels. If there were really powers that cared about him, he reasoned, why didn't they make his life more livable? Why did he have to be caught up in a world that knew only violence and death?  
The answer is, of course, this: the other Angels simply did not agree. The Angel of Dino Golzine was all but MIA for a long time, Yut-Lung's had a particularly hard time doing his own job. But in the end, most of them pulled through, and they all either got what they deserved or found refuge in Heaven. Ash met Eiji. They stayed together. And for a while, they both survived. The end of this story was nearing, and hope could still be found.  
Until now.  
Ash's Angel stands up from the window ledge he had been sitting on, witnessing his dying Ash crossing the threshold of the library. "No. No. This wasn't meant to happen."  
He moves to jump down from the ledge to do /something/, but a hand grasps the back of his robes and pulls his back. Turning around, he sees Eiji's Angel shaking her head. "You knew it was going to end like this. Why didn't you accept it the first time?"  
He yanks himself out of the other Angel's hold. "The same reason you wouldn't let Eiji die from that gunshot wound."  
Eiji's Angel shakes her head again. "You are...uncooperative. Recalcitrant. God only let you do this again because He wanted to teach you that you just cannot save him."  
He clenches his fists. "You only say that because your Ward will get a long, easy life. Eiji will end up happy and you know it."  
"There is no use changing Ash's fate. It has been written in the stars that he would die here and now, and /you/ know it."  
There is still something not right about it all. It wasn't supposed to end like this. Only a few changes were made the second time around, but he knows it /wasn't supposed to happen. A Hemingway quote comes to mind: "But man is not made for defeat. He can be destroyed, but not defeated."  
"He doesn't deserve this."  
Eiji's Angel gives him a sidelong glance, not wanting to upset him, but clearly disagreeing. "He has killed. Murder is the ultimate sin, is it not? He will still be able to make up for it all in Purgatory. This is not a loss."  
Ash's Angel is almost crying now, golden tears filling his vision. "How can you /say/ that? It's an unhappy ending, a /wrong/ ending. He's a teenage boy who never deserved anything he got. The only truly happy parts of his life were with his brother, Skipper, Shorter, and Eiji, and you're saying he /deserves/ to bleed out in a library again?"  
"I think..." she pauses weighing her words. "I think you do not understand the justice of the Law. It is hard, I know, but it is the Law. I want the same thing as you, believe me when I say that, but... you have already Fallen once. You of all Angels have suffered Perdition enough to understand that we must follow what has been written out for us and nothing else."  
Ash's Angel sighs, more frustrated than anything. "You're the one who doesn't understand. I? I've lived with not only an Angel's perspective, but a human one too. I know firsthand how humanity is something we ought to take notes from, really. 'But man is not made for defeat.' Because humans make mistakes. They fuck up. But they know how to learn. They know that when a law is unfair, that law should be challenged. And most importantly, they know how to forgive. I don't know how much forgiving /you've/ been doing lately, or ever for that matter, but the funny thing about it is that sooner or later, what happened in the past just... doesn't...fucking...matter."  
Down below, a librarian notices Ash, but lets him be, believing him to be blissfully asleep. The humans can't see this, but a Reaper is nearing his table. The tall figure seems to be taking its time. Many people believe the Seamstresses of Death to be dark and terrifying, but they are in fact quite bright and have a calming aura.  
Eiji's Angel gives him a wary, reproachful look. 'You're not going to plead for rebirth again, will you? it won't work. The narrative--"  
He holds up a hand to silence her and thinks for a long time, grasping at all sorts of ideas, debating whether God would allow his Ward to live a third time. While he ponders this, a song comes to mind. "Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed/ For I am thy God and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand/ Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous. upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand."  
Eiji's Angel puts a hand on his shoulder. "A Seamstress has already come to retrieve him. He will be fine."  
He removes his hands from over his eyes. "But will Eiji?"  
The question throws her off only slightly. "Yes. Eiji will live happy, and Ash will die happy. They have done this before, and will remember both of their lives After. Is that not enough?"  
"No," he says, resolved. "It isn't."  
He jumps off the window ledge without looking back and lands softly on his feet.  
As he runs across the street, Eiji's Angel watching him in disbelief, he disguises himself to look like any ordinary human of the modern day: gray jeans, white polo. His hair is disheveled and his face is meant to looks as average as possible. Anyone witnessing this will forget they ever saw him the next day.  
He throws the library doors open.  
"Ash!" he yells. The librarian, Seamstress, and the few people in the library turn to look at him. Ash hears his name but barely stirs. His face grows steadily paler.  
He runs toward the dying boy and is by his side in an instant. The Seamstress moves to stop him, but Ash's Angel gives her a glare with enough authority in it to make her halt. "We'll be leaving now. There's a flight to Japan to catch."  
Taken aback, she raises a white hand to her mouth. She clearly wants to say something, and doesn't know what's keeping her from saying it.  
He reaches Ash. The bleeding has halted, but would resume the moment the Seamstress seizes control again. He lifts him up, hauls him in a half-carry, placing a healing hand on his side. "Hey, hey, hey, wake the fuck up, son! Your story isn't over just yet."  
"Who...who are you? ...what's...?" the words from his mouth are faint.  
The librarian realizes what is going on and snaps into action as if out of a daze, heading to the nearest phone to call for an ambulance. Suddenly she stops, and Ash's Angel realizes why: her own Angel had told her to act, that something was wrong. Eiji's Angel had told the librarian's that he's got it all under control. She gives him an anxious but respectful nod. "But man is not made for defeat."  
Ash's Angel is focused only on saving his Ward. "I'm your saving grace, son, and you'll be fine, but only if you move, you gotta get up, come on, son..."  
He heals Ash as he walks. He unsheathes the one weapon he was given: a tiny dagger no longer than his index finger. The Angel waves it around threateningly, holding Ash protectively like a momma bear with her cub.  
Finally the Seamstress removes her hand from her mouth. "Go ahead. Take your leopard from the mountain. But a rabbit and a lynx can never be friends."  
The Angel looks back only once. Ash tries to follow his gaze, see who he's talking to, but he can no longer see the Seamstress. "Thank God he's not a lynx, then. He's a teenage boy who never deserved to die. Not here, not now."  
She can't think of a reply, but narrows her eyebrows and turns away.  
And so his story will not end here. Ash will ask plenty of questions, and his Angel will answer them honestly. He will catch the next flight to Japan, and his Angel will be with him the whole way. During the flight, his Angel will ask once more whether he can do this alone. He will say yes, and when he wakes up at the end of the long flight, he will no longer recognize the person next to him, giving him a knowing look. Looking at Ash as if watching over him as well as watching him.  
He will all but run out of the airport, causing quite a scene, a boy with nothing more than the clothes on his back and a letter in English frantically asking anyone who understands him where to find an Eiji Okumura. After almost two days of searching, he will find Eiji's younger sister. He will be able to breathe evenly once more. The two will reunite, and they will get a happy ending. They will get a happy ending. They will get a happy ending.  
Every so often Ash will notice someone watching him and get a sudden sense of deja vu, but soon forget the encounter at all. He will regard his last day in New York as some sort of bizarre dream, until Sing gets in touch with him and asks him why he changed his mind about coming to Japan.  
Eiji's and Ash's Angels will witness their Wards grow old, together and happy. The narrative has changed for good.  
The Archangels may grumble, saying it's just not /fair/, as if they know what that word means; the Devils may pout, looking for an occasion to lure the boy's soul down to Hell; and the Seamstresses of Death will surely feel cheated.  
But God will look down from His Throne, and watch all of this play out.  
And God will smile.

**Author's Note:**

> k so uh, sorry if my fics seem too similar to each other, but if writing the supernatural into my fics to fix depressing endings is my legacy, then so be it. hope you enjoyed! if not, please give me feedback! i love hearing constructive criticism!


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